Free Expression Tunnel

Free Expression Tunnel

The Free Expression Tunnel at NC State, an artifact onto itself

Within the Free Expression Tunnel, anyone is allowed to spray paint or in some other way decorate the walls, floors, and ceiling of the tunnel. Student organizations use it to advertise, social movement groups use it to get the word out, and amateur graffiti artists use it for fun. The tunnel is simultaneously adorned with the quintessential graffiti aesthetic, crude words, and simple images, all typically decorations of the tunnel.

This image does not focus on any singular work of the Free Expression Tunnel, but rather the tunnel itself. Painting in this tunnel should seem pointless. After all, there is no guarantee that what you painted will still be there tomorrow, let alone later that same day. The reading for this week that discusses street art considers street art to be an artist's advertisement of their self and ideology. What makes this idea of self-expression so interesting with the Free Expression Tunnel especially is that the nature of the tunnel makes an artist's expression transient. Where one would think that if someone had something important or personal to say they would want it to be durable and long-lasting, the Free Expression Tunnel subverts this expectation as its artists seem to be undeterred by the impermanence of their creations.

Justice Thomas

March 22, 2020

Still image